Liquid-producer plant and method for forming combustible gas



e. L. RElCH-HELM. LIQUID PRODUCER PLANT AND METHOD FOR FORMING COMBUSTIBLE GAS.

i APPLICATION FILED JAN.1I,1919- a v 1,434,25 Patented (M131, 1922,

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LIQUID PRODUCER PLANT AND METHOD FOR FORMING COMBUSTIBLE GAS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11, 1919.

gsgow v Pat e nted 001;. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

five/ 57: %W I 6801919 I. Fat/2W till Patented @ct. Ell, 119222.

GEUIR-GJE L. REICHHELM, 91* NEW YGRK, N. Y.

LIQUID-PRODUCER PLANE AND MlE-TIHEUD FOR JEQEMING CUMBUSTIUBLE Gllfi.

Application riled January 11, 191.9. serial No. 270,693.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. Rnionirnnm, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid- Producer Plants and Methods for Forming Combustible Gas, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to liquid producer plants and to a method for forming combust-ible gas.

The object of the invention is to produce, in a simple manner, a sufficiently rich gas for combustible purposes from a heavy liquid fuel.

This and other objects are accomplished by means of a method to be fully described and by means of the device shown on the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which Figure 1 is a. side elevation of my device with the cover removed showing the interior;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of thesame device showing the casing and apparatus therein in section in a plane at right angles to that shown in Figure 1;

' Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same de vice with the cover in place;

Figure 4 is a plaQi view of the arrangement shown in Figure 3 with air and fuel connections removed; and,

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view taken in the plane of line 5-5 of Figure 1.

The various novel features of my invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

There are many plants known as producer gas plants in which solids are used and the process employed is to ignite the lower stratum of a better fuel, the heat re sulting therefrom expanding the u per stratum into a gaseous state. The pro ucts of combustion and volatilized fuel will then pass off with sufiicient combustible gas to make its ignition possible when the proper amount of oxygen is added.

My invention does not relate to the production of gas from solids, such as coal and the like, but, on the other hand, relates. to a method and means for producin a combustible as from a heavy liquid fue To accomplisfi this result a method is employed consisting in forming a thin film of liquid fuel, then heating aportion thereof for vaporiz ng the same, and then igniting said vaporizlng fuel, causing the creation of a relatively great amount of heat for gasifying a supply of liquid fuel. Referring to the figures of the drawings, 1t w ll be noted that I have shown my device, which, in this particular instance, includes a casm 10 whch is inverted Fla-shaped, as shown in Figure 2. Secured to the upper part of the'casing and extending through an opening 9 therein, is a tube 11 which branches into two downwardly extending legs 12 having closed ends. The upper extremity of the tube 11 terminates in a valve casing 13 having an air inlet 14:, there being a valve 15 operable within the valve casing 13 to control the supply of air to the tube 11 and its legs 12. onnected to the tube 11 is a pipe 16 through which a heavy hydrocarbon may flow, the suppl of heavy hydrocarbon being controlled valve mechanism 17. It will be understood that when air is caused to pass downwardly into the tube 11 and legs 12, the liquid fuel also will pass through the tube 11 and legs 12 if the valve 17 is open. If desired the air may be forced through the tube 11 and legs 12 un der pressure, and the flow of liquid fuel will be controlled by the degree of opening of the valve 17.

In order to efficiently gasify a heavy liquid fuel initially, l have caused the liquid fuel to be separated into relatively thin films, after which said film of oil may be treated with heat for gasification preparatory to ignition. For spreading or separating the relatively heavy liquid fuel into relatively thin films, l have provided each of the legs 12 with bunches or groups of spaced mica 18, the middle portion of the bunches eiitending through suitable openings 19 on the inner sides of the legs, said openings 19 in each leg being in vertical alignment, and the set of openings 19 in one leg being opposite the set of openings 19 in the other leg. The arrangement of a single bunch of mica is shown in Figure 5, in connection with which it will be noted that the sheets of mica are spread widely within the leg 12 for receiving or collecting the liquid fuel as it passes downwardly through the leg 12. As a result of capillary attraction, the liquid fuel gathered by the mica within the legs 12 will be passed outwardly along the mica strips, forming relatively thin films of liquid fuel between and on the outwardly diverging pieces of mica which extend outwardly from the legs 12 and into the casing 10. By referrin to Figure 1, 2 and 3, it Will be noted that have provided a spark plug 20 which is secured to the casing 10 adjacent one of the lower bunches of mica. Between the two poles formed by the spark plug wire 21 and a sheet metal strip 22 on the 01pposite side of a sheet of mica, some of t e mica is interposed, and in view of the fact that the mica is a non-conductor, it diverts the produced electrical spark, the spark first impln in upon the mica in its attempt to take t e s ortest course. This heats a small portion of the non-conductor, vaporizing the liquid fuel thereon and'almost simultaneously causing a flame. The arrangement and spread of the mica leaves, as shown in the drawin s, causes the flame to travel u wardly an spread to the other leaves. t this point it will be noted, referring to Figure 2, that the legs intermediate the bunches of mica are vided withholes 23, the series of holes 3 in one leg being located directly opposite the series of holes in the opposite leg. Air which passes downwardly through the legs 12 and outwardly through the openin s 23 necessarily has the same velocity, an where these streams meet, the velocity, irre tive of the speed from the orifices, must e zero. In this way it is possible to cause combustion with a high or low velocity, or with a high or low pressure, which to all intent in this process is the same. It will be understood that the flame originall formed at the lower bunch of mica wil spread rapidly upwardly, gasifying the liquid fuel in the mica sheets arranged above, this being especially true in view of the fact that a definite amount of air is supplied through the openings 23 for supporting combustion. It will be understood that the large and relatively hot flame thus produced will act upon the tube 11 and legs 12 for gasif ing the liquid fuel assing therethrough. 'l e products of comustion formed by this heating action pass upwardly and laterally through the vertical portion of the casing 10 and laterally through the horizontal portion of said casing, and pass outwardly through the casing opening 24. It also will be un erstood readily that if an excess amount of oil is permitted to a gaseous vapor will ass through the casing to the outlet 24, whic when mixed with the proper supply of air, will readily produce an extremely hot flame for the desired pur- It is readily a parent that when the fuel distributed in t e fan-shaped lamination of mica is aflame and streams of air are being issued through the openings, or orifices 23, an exceedingly high temperature can be developed, and as a result thereof it will not be diflicult to understand why it is possible, by turning on an excess amount of liquid flow through the tube 11 and legs 12, 7

fuel, that a gaseous vapor is formed which w1ll issue from the casing openin 24.

This gas producing plant may e used in connectlon with various other devices, and

as here shown is connected with a gasifier,

including a U-shaped tube 25, one leg of which is connected to the casing opening 24, and the other end of which is connected to a union 26 having an air connection 27 to form a combustible mixture of the proper proportions which may pass outwardly through the conduit 28 to be used for any suitable purpose. Incidentally, the U- shaped member 25 is mounted within a casing 29, through which hot products of combustion ma be passed for heating the U tube 25 so t at the use of the liquid producer plant may be discontinued after it has served its function, whereupon oil may be supplied to the U-shaped tube 25 from any suitable source of oil sup ly 30 through a pipe 31 extending throug an opening 32 in the casing 10 and being arranged over one leg of the tube 25 so that the hydro-carbon may be dropped directly into the U tube. In this connection it will be appreciated that the hot products of combustion passing through the casing 29 may come from an internal combustion engine, being supplied with a combustible mixture passing through the asifier, here shown in connection with my iquid producer plant.

For the operation of this liquid producer Slant there may be either a suction prouced at the opening 24 in the casing 10, as would be .the case when used in connection with an internal combustion engine, or the air and oil passing into the tube 11 may be supplied under pressure, for example, by means of an air compressor, or, if esired, here may be both a sub-atmospheric pressure at the opening 24 and a super-atmospheric ressure at the point of air and liquid fuel supply. By means of my method and the device herein described, it is possible efiiciently to ignite kerosene and heavier liquid fuels by means of an ordinary electric spark, and the results of practice have established this fact.

It is my intention to cover all modifications of the invention falling within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a combustible gas from liquid fuel consisting in cansing said fuel to spread out by capillary action into thin fihns subjecting said films to air and igniting one of said films thereby creating a flame for igniting the remainder of said films.

2. A producer plant including means for conductlng liquid fuel, means extending transverse y of saidvconducting means for leading said fuel out of. said conducting means in a plurality of spaced films and Zll vid

means for iting one of said films to rer i tion for the remainder of said liquid producer plant including a tube for the passage of air and a liquid fuel, means associated with said tube for causin said liquid fuel to separateinto a plura ity of transversely extending spaced relatively thin films, air openings in said tube for permitting a supply of air adjacent said films of liquid fuel, and means for vapor- 1Z1I1 liquld fuel for vaporizing and igniting other films of fuel for heating purposes.

4:. A liquid producer plant including a tube for the passage of liquid fuel, and spaced strips of material mounted in said tube and extending therefrom for collecting liquid fuel passing through the tube and spreading the same .into thin films enteriorly with respect to said tube whereby the same may be gasified and ignited.

5 A liquid producer plant including a tube for the passage of liquid fuel, spaced strips of material mounted in said tube and extending therefrom for collecting liquid fuel passing through the tube and spreading the same into thin films exteriorly with respect to said tube whereby the same may be gasified and ignited, and air supply means associamd with said tube for su porting combustion.

6. A liquid producer plant comprising oppositely arranged tubes, spared-members mounted within said tubes and extending therefrom for collecting liquid fuel within the tubes and spreading it into thin films exteriorly of said tube, and air openings in said tubes oppositely arranged with respect to each other for reducing the velocity of the air for supporting the combustion of the fuel carried by said spaced members.

7. A liquid producer plant comprising a casing having an outlet, a-tube mounted in said casing, means for supplying liquid fuel and air to said tube, spaced members and igniting one of said films of mounted within said tube and extendin outwardly therefrom for collecting liqui fuel passmg through the tube and separating the same into thin films exteriorly of said tube, and means for igniting the films of oil for producing a hot flame to gasify liquid fuel passing through said tube, the roducts of combustion and the gas thus ormed passing outwardly through said casing opening.

8, The method of producing a combustible gas from. a liquid fuel wherein there is a difi'erence in pressure between the point of supply of the liquid fuel and a point of flow of the resulting combustible gas, consisting first in finely atomizing oil in two opposed streams of air, and then igniting the finely atomized oil at the point of meet ing of the streams of air, thereby creating heat for ,gasifying a relatively large supply of liquid fuel. 1

9. The method of producing a combustible gas from a liquid fuel wherein there is a difference in pressure between the point of supply of the liquid fuel and a point of flow of the resulting combustible gas, consisting first in finely atomizing oil in a plurality of streams of air which flow in directions to reduce the velocity of all, then subjecting the finely atomized oil at the point where said streams of air are moving at the minimum velocity to an igniting spark to produce a hot flame for gasifying asupply of liquid fuel.

10. A producer plant including means for conducting liquid fuel, said means includ ing conductors for spreading said "fuel into a plurality of thin films by capillary action and means for iiting one of said vfilms to provide ignition for the remainder of said Signed at New York, New Yorlr, this 7th day of Jan, 1919.

GEURGE L, RElClll-lEl'ill/l, 

